News Story: First graders hit hard by the recession.

Note from the Tooth Fairy:

Isaac,

Sorry, but times are tough for the Tooth Fairy. I only had a quarter today.

Heaven for a $1.50.

Steve and I have reached an epoch in our lives. I'm not exactly sure what "epoch" means, but I've wanted to use it ever since I was eight-years-old and read Anne of Green Gables. I think it means "an important milestone or moment," but I can't be absolutely sure.

Anyway, Laura is now twelve-years-old and can legally babysit. On Friday, Steve and I put the younger kids to bed and then...left the house. It was liberating. It was thrilling. It was kinda scary, we only stayed away for an hour just to be sure the house hadn't burned down. But, oh, what an hour it was!

This is what we did. About a month ago, I discovered this little cookie shop inside the Sycamore Mall. For those of you who don't live in Iowa City, the Sycamore Mall is the forgotten mall. It can't hold a candle to the Coralridge Mall. It has no GAP. It has no Abercrombie and Fitch. In fact, most of the stores are vacant. The music track is stuck playing The Top 40 from 1982.

We love it.

Anyway, there's this cookie shop, and a while ago the owner discovered his kids have celiac's disease, so he makes a whole line of gluten-free cookies and cupcakes for about $1.50 each. Here they are:

And the walls are worth a good read, too. Here's this fun quote:

"Research tells us 14 out of 10 adults like cookies."

Another one says, "Men can't live on cookies alone. But women can."

Next door is a Dairy Queen. Steve's favorite. He used to work there in high school. Not at this particular shop, but one somewhere in Canada.

So he bought a peanut buster parfait and I bought a cookie, and for $5.00 we had the perfect date.

Here's Steve eating. I always seem to take pictures of him eating.

I told him that and then he posed like this:

A sample of our conversation, while listening to the song, "Sarah":

Steve: Why do they always write songs about girls but not guys?

Jenn: There's a song called, "David Duchovney."

Steve: Why isn't there a song called, "Randy"?

Jenn: Or Harold?

Steve: Or Gary?

Also we tried to come up with My Little Pony names, ones that don't exist but sound like they could, like Twinklesugar or Moonheart.

Then we went to the dollar store and made fun of stuff in there.

And then we went home. And the house was still standing.

Then we fell asleep fifteen minutes into watching Harry Potter 5. It was a good night.

The goose is dying.

Meaning, Lincoln has taken up the trumpet.

And Laura has taken up the flute. She was so excited the day we brought home her instrument.

But Lincoln was not. He did not want to play the trumpet. (It was not a video game, apparently.) He also didn't have a choice this time. Because one must be able to do other things beside play video games, right?

Then last night they both had their first lesson and on the way home Lincoln wanted to blow his trumpet. It was very loud in the car.

Then he came home and wanted to blow his trumpet before bed.

Then he woke up first thing and started blowing his trumpet until we told him to STOP!

Then before breakfast, then after breakfast, then right before it was time to load up in the van to go to school, I kept finding him breaking into his case...
...and blowing his trumpet.
I wish we could bottle up this enthusiasm now so when it wanes in a couple of months we can bring it back out again.

The photo-less birthday...with one exception.

This:

Laura turned twelve on September 10th. Probably the most momentous birthday belonging to one of our children that we've ever had. And I only took one picture. (And since I did take the one, clearly the camera was around, not hidden or lost.) Why? I am not sure, but I think for once we were actually so caught up in living the day to the fullest, we just didn't have time for pictures. Or maybe I was just so stressed, trying to cram in all the events of the day that I let the pictures slip through the cracks. I'd like to think it was the former, but knowing me...

I spent most of the time remembering the day Laura was born, in fact, a sort of mental film of that day kept playing in my head and I could not stop it, even though it kept me close to tears all day long because I could have never imagined as I held her as a little baby what sort of twelve-year-old she would turn out to be. I had no idea she would turn out to be such a compassionate, spiritually self-motivated, intelligent, orderly, responsible, brave and thoroughly good human being. It's a privilege to be her mom.

Happy 12th, Laura!

PS...Laura's party had a beach/pool theme, which should explain the cupcake.

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